If you can't tell already, I am in love with words. I am also a secret romantic, with an unconditional love of the R & B ballads that I grew up with in the 70s and 80s that current radio refers to as Slow Jams.

On the outside I am very philosophical about love and relationships, but on the inside all I need to hear are the first strains of certain songs that bring me back to the romantic notions of my youth. Back on Valentine's Day, I commented that I like to rock when I'm driving. I didn't mean that to say that I don't like love songs. I do, just not all of them. There is something about the whispered promises of love and fervent declarations of devotion that move me when it concerns the music that played in my house during my younger years.

Not to be one of THOSE people, but a lot of today's love songs don't talk about love as much as they talk about sex, which is fine if that's what you're into, but it's not really for me. I miss the sensuality of the suggestion, rather than the bold talk about the act itself. My mother always taught us to "leave something to the imagination". The sweet sounds of Ronald Isley's tenor, mixed with the vivid imagery of sailing away from daily cares and worries to "a paradise, out beyond the sea" propels "Voyage to Atlantis" by the Isley Brothers into a realm of romantic iconography very hard to reach by today's artists:

The demand for instant gratification that drives a lot of popular music is noticeably absent from Cameo's tale of longing and anticipation "Sparkle"

If you have ever felt insecure in a relationship, the opening assurances in Debarge's classic "Time Will Reveal" will soothe whatever doubts you have in the opening 30 seconds:

I used to wonder what drove me back to these particular songs for repeated listening. Maybe it was the intensity of feeling that people are afraid to express for fear of not seeming aloof, which seems to be the prevailing sentiment today. Not so in the early 80s, when the thought of potentially lost love drove someone to song to express it:

There was a time when artists were not afraid to show vulnerability in their lyrics. They were unafraid to show fear, doubt, longing, love or any of a host of emotions with beautiful words meant to let the listener know that they, too, experienced the same situations and circumstances. Artists related to the audience, and invited them to go down this road to love and romance with them. Bravado and lust had their place, but it wasn't the default the way it is now. Music is the ultimate relational tool, and even if you couldn't explain exactly how you felt, out there, somewhere, was a song that could help you express whatever was in your heart to someone who may not understand your own fumbling attempts. Even I can't fully explain it.